


Wrong number (or is it?)

by NandaWrites



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Human, Drabble, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Lightwood Siblings, M/M, Misunderstandings, Online Relationship, Shadowhunters Summer Gift Festival, Sort Of, Wrong number
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 00:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11909013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NandaWrites/pseuds/NandaWrites
Summary: Alec thinks he is dialing his younger brother's number, ready to give him a piece of his mind for keeping them all waiting for him forhours.He calls Magnus instead.





	Wrong number (or is it?)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for tyrionlannisler for the 2017 Shadowhunters Summertime Gift Fest. The prompt was the "dialing the wrong number" trope and it was very fun to write. I hope you (and everyone else) likes it. S2

\- He is late.

Izzy’s voice was annoyed and Alec couldn’t blame her, they were supposed to have met with their younger brother Max at the entrance of his school 20 minutes ago to go eat ice cream. The sun was blazing hot above them, there were dozens of kids screaming and running all around them, other dozen parents bumping into them as they passed to get their own children, and no sign of their brother whatsoever even though class was already done. He sighed, today was setting up to be one of those days.

\- I am gonna call him. Wait here and wave if you see him, ok?

Izzy murmured a ‘yeah’, arms crossed and tapping her foot as she surveyed the inside of the school like a hawk. She looked strikingly like their mother when she did that and Alec had a feeling he didn’t want to be in Max’s shoes when they found him.

He walked to the side, as far away from all the noise coming from the school as he could without losing Izzy from sight. Max had just gotten his first phone the day before so it was bound to be glued to his hand - probably the reason why he was so late was because he had stayed behind showing all the features and games to his friends, Alec could bet. He realized he hadn’t yet saved his brother’s number to his phone, but he had helped him pick it so he just typed in the number Max had chosen and waited.

It rang once. Twice…

“Hello?”

“Max, finally! Where are you?”

“Hm? I’m home, but-”

“What do you mean, you’re home? Didn’t we agree to meet up in front of your school for ice cream? How did you even get there by yourself?”

There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line and then the voice said:

“I’m sorry, but I think you’ve got the wrong number.”

A voice Alec had just realized sounded nothing like his brother’s. His blood froze for a moment before rushing all to his face once he realized he had just yelled at and scolded a stranger over the phone, all his brain cells shifting into overdrive from embarrassment and sheer panic. 

“I- I’m so sorry, I thought, my brother Max just got his first phone yesterday and I was trying to call him and, and I thought I remembered the number, but I guess I didn’t, I’m so sorry.”

He must have sounded even more panicked than he thought, because when the voice on the other side spoke again, the tone was much more gentle, though still a bit startled.

“Hey, it’s okay, it happens. God knows I have called my fair share of wrong numbers and told unspeakable things to them when I was drunk.”

“I, I’m not drunk!”, Alec felt the need to clarify, still in a panic, and now worried the other would think he was a hooligan that was day drinking before going to meet his younger brother on top of all things. God, this day was starting to be even worse than he had imagined it. And… did the guy on the other end of the line just _laugh_?

“Easy there, tiger, I didn’t say you were. I said _I_ have done this sometimes when I was drunk. Don’t worry, I am not mad, you didn’t inconvenience me, this happens, so relax, okay? I also had no idea you were a stranger at first, I know too many people to keep track of all the numbers and, what’s your brother’s name, again?”

“It’s... It’s Max.”

“Ah, there, see? I thought you had said “Mags”, so I was just answering like normal. Though now that I think of it, I should have known then there was something wrong. No one calls me “Mags”, and if they did, I’d be forced to gather an army of cats and let them loose in the person’s closet to puke colourful fur balls all over the offender’s clothes.”

Alec couldn’t help but imagine the picture, and he didn’t know if it was that or the guy’s absolutely affronted voice as he said it, but he found himself laughing, his panic and embarrassment reducing considerably. The guy was right, these things happened, and if the other could knowingly say something ridiculous like that to someone he didn’t even know, he thought he could be excused for a small mistake.

“Now that’s much better. Not to sound creepy or anything, but you have a nice laugh, Mr. Stranger.”

That got Alec embarrassed again, though now for a completely different reason. Again, he caught himself smiling, finding it much easier when the other couldn’t see him.

“It’s Alec, actually.”

“Alec, also a very nice name. I am Magnus.”

“Magnus?”, he asked, finding the name somewhat odd.

“Yes, the magnificent Magnus Bane, at your disposal,” the other laughed again and Alec caught himself wanting to say he also had a very nice laugh, but he held himself back, too embarrassed to actually say it. “Now, while it’s been a pleasure getting acquainted with you, Alec, I think you have a younger brother to find, right?”

“ _Shit!_ ”, Alec paled. With all the trouble he had gotten himself into with this phone call, he had completely forgotten about Max. He looked back at the school gate, finding Izzy still alone and looking annoyed at him now as well. Great. “Sorry, I just, you are right, I have to call him. Uh, thank you for being so cool with this and sorry again for the trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it. And, I have to say, whether by another accident or not, I wouldn’t mind at all to hear your voice again sometime soon. Good bye, Alexander”

The use of his full name left him too stunned to answer and when the beep of the line disconnecting sounded, he realized two very important things: one, his brother’s phone ended in 36, not 26; and two, a stranger on the phone had basically just told him to “call me, maybe”, and as ridiculous as it sounded… He really, really wanted to.

\--//--

Throughout all the rest of the day, Alec found himself obsessively staring at his phone. He kept telling himself that it was ridiculous, that he didn’t even know who Magnus was, that he had just talked to him for 2 minutes on the phone out of pure accident, that it was ridiculous that he had developed a crush under those circumstances and that the other was probably just being nice with what he said and didn’t even mean it, but it was of no use.

After Max had kept them waiting for half an hour just to – as he had predicted – show off his phone to his friends, Izzy had instated a no phones rule under the penalty of death during their time together, and even the short time they took to eat the ice cream and then walk home had already been torture, his mind and fingers practically buzzing with the need to take out his phone and dial Magnus’ number. But once they had gotten home and he was safe and sound inside his room with his phone in his hand and the finger hovering over the dial button, he found out he just… couldn’t.

He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t press the button, he was too big of a coward for that. He kept thinking that Magnus didn’t really want him to, that he had just been playing with him, that he had no reason to actually want to talk more to a loser like him, to someone he didn’t even know. He knew so many people already that he couldn’t fit all the numbers in his phone, hadn’t he said that? So there was no reason for him to want or need to talk to Alec.

Alec didn’t even know why _he_ wanted to talk to him so much either.

But he really, really wanted to.

Uuuurghhhh.

He spent the rest of that day and the next one as well moping and avoiding his sister’s questions about what was wrong. He had told her his friend Jace had called before he talked to Max to cover up his embarrassment over the wrong call, and he wasn’t about to admit to that any more than he was about to admit just how pathetic he was and ask her for dating advice.

Which wasn’t even what was going on at all, the problem was that Alec didn’t even know _what_ was going on.

During a burst of courage, he had actually saved Magnus’ number to his phone, but that was as far as it lasted. Now, instead of just staring at a sequence of numbers he had pretty much committed to memory either way, he kept staring at the other’s name on his phone and he didn’t know if that was actually better or worse.

Now he was lying on his bed, waiting for his mother to call for dinner and staring up at the device with the sinking realization that he would never be able to actually go through with it dawning on him. It had been a nice fantasy while it lasted, imagining himself calling Magnus and the conversation they might have, but he should let go of it now, delete the number from his phone and hope it didn’t take too long for it to be deleted from his brain as well…

The sudden ring and buzz from the device startled him so much he dropped it on his face, cursing loudly as the edge clacked on his teeth. He caught it again, pain only furthering his bad mood, until the name on the screen made him freeze for the second time in two days.

It was Magnus.

Magnus was calling him.

Oh God, what should he do?

He swiped and took the call without even thinking, worried it might go to voice mail if he missed another second, and cleared his throat before bringing the phone to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Good evening, I’d like to place an order.”

Wait, what?

“Uhh, Magnus?”

“……Alec?”

“Yes?”

Magnus muttered something then that he couldn’t understand very well, but that sounded like “Damn, Catarina”. He had no idea what that was supposed to mean. He hoped Catarina wasn’t his girlfriend.

“Uhh, is this you pretending to call me as a wrong number so I can see there’s really not a problem with it and feel at ease?”

It sounded like a reasonable explanation to him, he had no idea why Magnus seemed to be laughing again.

“It flatters me you think I’d do something like that, but, no actually… I asked my now _ex_ -friend Catarina to dial the pizzeria number while I grabbed my wallet and she called you instead, because I might… Have been talking to her all day about how much I wished you would call and I might have annoyed her a bit.”

“Try a lot!”, a muffled woman’s voice yelled from behind Magnus and the other groaned in exasperation. Alec didn’t know what to do with this information. He would never imagine he had caused as big an impression on the guy as he had caused on him, what with confusing him with a middle grader and all… That...

“I wanted to call,” he admitted, “but I didn’t think you had actually meant what you said or that you would actually want to talk to me.”

“Why would I have told you to call if I didn’t actually want you to?”, Magnus replied, sounding genuinely baffled, and once again Alec felt his worries easing like it was magic. Now he had no idea why he had been so nervous to call in the first place, and even a bit silly over it all.

“I, uh, had a bunch of very good reasons, but I can’t think of a single one of them now.”

Magnus chuckled again, and Alec felt very proud of himself for some reason. He really did have a very nice laugh and also sounded like a very nice guy. He felt his maybe-not-so-hopeless crush get just a bit worse.

“Listen, I know you had no way of knowing this, but I never say anything I don’t mean. I wanted you to call me when I said so yesterday and I’d very much like you to call me again tomorrow, when it’s not so late and I don’t have an annoying guest to feed and we can talk properly. You sound like an interesting person, I’d like to know you better.”

“I don’t know if I’m really all that interesting…”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that? So, will you call?”

“I will.” Alec promised, then paused briefly, having a better idea. “Do you have Whatsapp?”

Magnus scoffed. “And just like that, the magic dies, killed by the practicality of modern technology. Another thing you should know about me, Alexander, is that I love a good theatricality.”

“He means he is a drama queen!”, Catarina interjected again from behind Magnus and it was Alec’s turn to laugh as Magnus shushed her and they bickered for a while. 

“Well… I can learn about that and anything else you want to tell through whatsapp so I can prepare myself for the call tomorrow.”

That caught Magnus’ attention back.

“That sounds absolutely perfect. Then, I will talk to you very soon, Alexander. Bye.”

“Bye,” Alec replied, beginning to smile again. When his phone disconnected the call, he saw there was already a new text message waiting for him on the app, and that it was from Magnus, and that brought butterflies to his stomach, but of the good kind now. He didn’t know what this would bring or even if he had really gone completely crazy, but for once… He didn’t really think he cared at all.

\--//--

“Alec, stop fidgeting.”

“I am not!”

“Yes, you are, I get that you are nervous, but I can’t fix your hair like this, so keep still.”

“I am not nervous,” he argued again, but even he knew that was a lie. Today was the day he was meeting Magnus in person for the first time, after a whole month of texting and chatting and calling. To say he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown would be an understatement.

“I don’t know why. You guys have been talking for ages, you have video chatted, you know each other already, this won’t be any surprise, it’s just… The next step.”

“You can’t just know a person in only a month, Iz. What if he doesn’t like the way I act? Or how my voice sounds live? Or how I chew my food or-“

“Oh, for the love of- Can you hear what you are saying? That doesn’t even make any sense! There are probably a thousand motives why you and Magnus will fight once this freakishly long honeymoon phase is over, but the way you chew won’t be one of them.”

“Gee, thanks for the motivation, Izzy.”

“Just keeping it real, big bro. There, you are all set. Now go get your man and make me proud!”

She slapped his shoulder as Alec sputtered, face completely red. 

“Izzy!”, he chastised, but she was already gone out the door and on her way back to her own room.

Alec took a deep breath and looked himself in the mirror. He didn’t think he was anything out of the extraordinary, but he had to admit he looked better than he had since… Well, ever.

His phone buzzed and he dived for it, unlocking it to see the message from Magnus: _I’m here!_

_I’m going out. DO NOT ring the doorbell, or my sister will get there first!_

He grabbed his wallet and rushed downstairs, ignoring Izzy’s questioning voice behind him. Without giving himself time to think too much or even breath, he yanked the front door open and stepped out.

He saw Magnus there, and he was even more breathtaking than the pictures or even their video chats had let on. He was gorgeous, and beautiful, and smiling and real, and Alec’s, and he was looking at him with the same amount of awe Alec was.

“Wow, hi,”, Magnus started, but if he was going to say something more, Alec never found out, because he leaped forward and kissed him, passing his arms around his neck and pulling him close, reeling when Magnus’ arms circled his waist and pressed them closer still, kissing him back with just as much passion and desperation and happiness.

He distantly heard Izzy cheering behind them, but he found that in that moment he didn’t really care.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants to request something or just chat, you can find me on Tumblr at [nandawrites](http://www.nandawrites.tumblr.com).


End file.
